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Legal operations — and the professionals driving it — has reshaped in-house legal departments, and ACC has recognizing those at the forefront of the movement with the ACC Value Champion award. Leveraging the insights from current and past ACC Value Champions, we’ve seen key trends emerge in the legal ops space.
The ACC Value Champions program celebrates law departments and legal service providers that have successfully implemented value-driven initiatives to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and improve legal outcomes. These champions represent a diverse range of industries and organizations, demonstrating innovative approaches to legal operations through process automation, AI-driven analytics, strategic collaboration, and data-backed decision-making.
Launched in 2012, the ACC Value Challenge has provided resources and training for in-house counsel, legal ops professionals, and law firm lawyers to help affect change within the legal industry by re-aligning relationships and promoting value-based fee arrangements and other management tactics.
By embracing these best practices, legal teams are not only streamlining workflows — but also driving measurable business impact. Whether it’s cutting outside counsel costs, improving contract management, or optimizing legal resource allocation, these strategies offer a roadmap for legal departments looking to enhance their value.
Here are seven key takeaways from the five years’ worth of ACC Value Champions to help you transform your legal operations and maximize impact.
Integrate legal teams as strategic business partners
Legal departments thrive when they are deeply embedded within the business. By aligning legal expertise with commercial priorities, teams can enhance deal velocity, streamline governance, and proactively manage risk. Legal operations should focus on reducing friction in business processes rather than acting as a bottleneck.
Leverage AI and automation for unparalleled efficiency
AI-powered tools can revolutionize contract review, compliance, and matter management, turning dayslong tasks into real-time solutions. Whether handling high-volume contracts or optimizing legal request management, automation ensures legal teams can scale without sacrificing quality.
Develop scalable legal operations to support growth
As businesses expand, legal teams must scale accordingly. Successful legal departments build frameworks that support increasing workloads without sacrificing quality. Whether by expanding legal operations teams, implementing self-service tools, or leveraging external legal providers, scaling efficiently ensures legal teams remain proactive rather than reactive.
Utilize data-driven decision-making and value metrics
Legal departments must move beyond anecdotal insights and implement structured measurement strategies. By combining legal expertise with data analytics, teams can assess performance, optimize spend, and clearly demonstrate their contribution to the business.
Create centralized knowledge management and self-service solutions
Legal teams are increasingly developing structured repositories of legal know-how, contract templates, and playbooks to ensure consistency and efficiency. Implementing self-service legal tools, chatbots, or internal legal databases can help business users access critical information while reducing routine inquiries for legal teams. A well-structured Center of Excellence (CoE) or legal request management system can significantly improve efficiency and cross-functional collaboration.
Strengthen collaboration across business units
Legal departments that integrate closely with procurement, compliance, and other business functions enhance operational efficiency and business alignment. By implementing shared platforms, improving intake processes, and streamlining rate negotiations, legal teams can support enterprise-wide goals while optimizing their own performance.
Embrace change and continual innovation
As businesses grow and evolve, outdated legal processes can create bottlenecks. Legal teams must regularly assess workflows, adopt scalable tech solutions, and remain agile in response to new challenges. Prioritizing operational flexibility ensures continued business success.
These insights from past and present Value Champions highlight how legal teams can drive efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance their strategic impact within an organization.
Disclaimer: The information in any resource in this website should not be construed as legal advice or as a legal opinion on specific facts, and should not be considered representing the views of its authors, its sponsors, and/or ACC. These resources are not intended as a definitive statement on the subject addressed. Rather, they are intended to serve as a tool providing practical guidance and references for the busy in-house practitioner and other readers.
This article was produced with the assistance of GenAI.
